Victor Keegan | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/profile/victorkeegan
Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voiceen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2018Tue, 20 Mar 2018 02:40:44 GMT2018-03-20T02:40:44Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2018The Guardianhttps://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttps://www.theguardian.com
Lord Ezra obituaryhttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/22/lord-ezra
Former chairman of the National Coal Board who forged a close working relationship with Joe Gormley, president of the National Union of Mineworkers<p>Derek Ezra, Lord Ezra, former chairman of the National Coal Board, who has died aged 96, was a remarkably successful public sector businessman in what now seems like a bygone age. He spent his entire working life until the age of 63 in the coal industry, at a time of almost continuous decline. Although submerged tensions exploded into industrial unrest from time to time, the period as a whole was characterised by an unusual degree of mutual cooperation.</p><p>He joined the marketing department of the Coal Board in 1947 – the year of nationalisation – when the newly established board found itself the owner of 1,400 collieries, as well as 85 brickworks, a cinema, a slaughterhouse and a holiday camp. Ezra gradually worked his way up the ranks of the industry, through regional sales departments, until he became director general of marketing at the NCB in 1960. He was deputy chairman from 1967 until 1971 and soon became the obvious internal successor to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/jun/29/guardianobituaries3" title="">Lord (Alf) Robens</a>, who retired in 1971. He took over on a salary of £20,000 a year, when the board was losing £10m a year.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/22/lord-ezra">Continue reading...</a>MiningCoalBusinessTUCIndustrial actionTue, 22 Dec 2015 18:07:26 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/22/lord-ezraPhotograph: Kevin Holt/ANL/REX/ShutterstockPhotograph: Kevin Holt/ANL/REX/ShutterstockVictor Keegan2015-12-22T18:07:26ZOil crisis may lead to ban on Sunday driving: From the archive, 13 November 1973https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/nov/13/opec-oil-crisis-1973
British government may follow European neighbours by banning Sunday driving<p>The Government may be forced to introduce some form of weekend driving ban since the shortfall in winter oil supplies to Britain is now approaching 20 - 25% and rationing would take at least three weeks to introduce.</p><p>The Government clearly has not got time on its side, since the "triple alliance" of miners, Arabs, and electricity power engineers could rapidly produce the most serious energy shortage the country has faced since the war.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/nov/13/opec-oil-crisis-1973">Continue reading...</a>OilOil and gas companiesMiddle East and North AfricaEgyptIsraelEnergyWed, 13 Nov 2013 07:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/nov/13/opec-oil-crisis-1973Photograph: Hulton GettyFour horsemen in Amsterdam leave their vehicles at home during a car-free day held in the Dutch city. Photograph: Hulton GettyPhotograph: Hulton GettyFour horsemen in Amsterdam leave their vehicles at home during a car-free day held in the Dutch city. Photograph: Hulton GettyVictor Keegan and Peter Hillmore2013-11-13T07:00:00ZFrom the archive, 23 October 1969: Beatles' magical mystery tour leads to Guardian reporterhttps://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/oct/23/beatles-magical-mystery-tour-1969
A hidden message on a Beatles album sleeve leads US fans on a magical mystery tour - to the telephone number of the Guardian's industrial correspondent<p>Rumours that Paul McCartney is dead, which have pushed the Beatles back to the top of the charts in America, are only part of a new surge of Beatlemania which is sweeping across the United States.</p><p>I know because, unfortunately, my telephone has proved an all too accurate barometer of the Beatles' popularity in the United States.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/oct/23/beatles-magical-mystery-tour-1969">Continue reading...</a>The BeatlesPop and rockMusicPaul McCartneyCultureTue, 23 Oct 2012 06:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/oct/23/beatles-magical-mystery-tour-1969Photograph: GuardianThe Beatles' hidden message on the Magical Mystery Tour album made front page news in 1969. Photograph: GuardianPhotograph: GuardianThe Beatles' hidden message on the Magical Mystery Tour album made front page news in 1969. Photograph: GuardianVictor Keegan2012-10-23T06:30:00ZThe 4G network dream will not be realised without proper investment | Victor Keeganhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/22/4g-dream-investment-mobile-internet
Superfast mobile internet technology is on the way – but Britain has to build fibre networks to bring broadband up to speed<p>Britain punched above her weight in the physical Olympics. But how well will she do in the much more important broadband Olympics – the race for economic success in which digital speeds will be crucial. It is reckoned by the likes of Ericsson and Arthur D Little that <a href="http://www.ericsson.com/news/1550083" title="">GDP increases by 1% for every 10% increase in broadband penetration</a>. The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/aug/20/4g-mobile-internet-everything-everywhere" title="">announcement</a> that some of us will be able to hook up to the fourth generation (4G) high-speed network, with speeds over three times faster than existing 3G, as early as next month is great news. But is it enough?</p><p>Think globally. Mobile is the future, but it will be umbilically linked to having an ultra-fast national fibre network to exploit the amazing products in the pipeline. Until this happens most of us won't fully benefit from the speed 4G can bring. As the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, <a href="http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/ministers_speeches/9299.aspx" title="">himself says</a>:</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/22/4g-dream-investment-mobile-internet">Continue reading...</a>4GTelecomsTechnologyBroadbandInternetMobile phonesSmartphonesSamsungEEOrangeT-MobileBusinessTelecommunications industryUK newsWed, 22 Aug 2012 13:19:52 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/22/4g-dream-investment-mobile-internetPhotograph: Kc Alfred/REUTERS'Mobile is the future, but it will be umbilically linked to having an ultra-fast national fibre network to exploit the products in the pipeline.' Photograph: KC Alfred/ReutersPhotograph: Kc Alfred/REUTERS'Mobile is the future, but it will be umbilically linked to having an ultra-fast national fibre network to exploit the products in the pipeline.' Photograph: KC Alfred/ReutersVictor Keegan2012-08-22T13:19:52ZEvolutionary music doesn't mean the death of the creator | Victor Keeganhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/19/evolutionary-music-death-of-the-creator
Almost anyone can be an&nbsp;artist in the digital age – yet language and meaning remain as&nbsp;elusive as ever<p>W e know that internet technology has disrupted the music industry, but could it disrupt music itself, or painting, or literature? <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18449939" title="">Armand Leroi</a>, professor of evolutionary development biology at Imperial College, London, believes music is already in the frame. He told Radio 4's Today programme today: "What we are trying to find out is whether you need a composer to make music … and we don't think you do."</p><p>The idea is that music can evolve: a computer programme randomly churns out two short loops of noise which, if judged pleasant by a human participant, are allowed to "breed" and recombine, mixing up the material to create four new loops, and so on. The surviving, thriving loops end up exhibiting some of our favourite musical traits: major chords, rhythms and so on.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/19/evolutionary-music-death-of-the-creator">Continue reading...</a>Digital music and audioProgrammingDigital mediaComputingCultureMediaTechnologyPoetryBooksTue, 19 Jun 2012 17:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/19/evolutionary-music-death-of-the-creatorPhotograph: c.Everett Collection / Rex FeatuCould Jailhouse Rock have been written by a program? Elvis Presley looks at the sheet music with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Photo: c.Everett Collection /RexPhotograph: c.Everett Collection / Rex FeatuCould Jailhouse Rock have been written by a program? Elvis Presley looks at the sheet music with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Photo: c.Everett Collection /RexVictor Keegan2012-06-19T17:30:00ZNokia Lumia 800 – reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/nov/04/nokia-lumia-800-phone-review
The Carl Zeiss lens means that the new Nokia Lumia 800, its first running Windows Phone, is a fantastic camera. But is the software good enough to compete with smartphone rivals?<p>The eagerly awaited Nokia Lumia 800 is the result of a shotgun marriage between Nokia's N9 (which was already being developed) and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5 Mango software.</p><p>We all know why. Microsoft was desperate to expand its near-monopoly of desktops into mobile, while Nokia was watching the bottom fall out of its dominance of the smartphone market thanks to competition from iPhone and Android. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/nov/04/nokia-lumia-800-phone-review">Continue reading...</a>NokiaSmartphonesWindows PhoneMicrosoftPhotographyFri, 04 Nov 2011 15:26:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/nov/04/nokia-lumia-800-phone-reviewPhotograph: PRNokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone ... the best looking phone either company has madePhotograph: PRNokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone ... the best looking phone either company has madeVictor Keegan2011-11-04T15:26:04ZLove's labour's located: how I plotted Shakespeare's London with an iPhone apphttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/theatreblog/2011/jan/19/william-shakespeares-london-iphone-app
My new app uses Apple geo-positioning to guide you around the playwright's favourite haunts and sites of significance – even when they're long disappeared<p>If you walk from Tate Modern on London's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankside" title="Bankside">Bankside</a> towards <a href="http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images/pictures/01/68/blackfriars-bridge-ec-16374.jpg" title="Blackfriars Bridge">Blackfriars bridge</a> there is a modern office block on Hopton Street. In Shakespeare's time it boasted the biggest theatre in town, holding 3,000 people – larger than any West End venue today. It wasn't the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theatre" title="Globe">Globe</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rose_%28theatre%29" title="Rose">Rose</a> or the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Theatre" title="Hope">Hope</a>, all 500 yards farther east down the river. It was the Swan. This venue has long been familiar to Shakespeare buffs – a <a href="http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/51246432.jpg?v=1&amp;c=IWSAsset&amp;k=2&amp;d=45B0EB3381F7834DB5C71FC273EBD7E536A52DFF8DCEB6D2734446D9B1386347" title="drawing by a Dutch visitor of its stage">drawing by a Dutch visitor of its stage</a> is the only picture extant of what an Elizabethan stage actually looked like – but largely unknown to the thousands who walk by each day. There is not even a plaque to commemorate it, though there is a sign reading "Falcon Point", to mark the spot where, facing the Swan, stood the Falcon Inn – where Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and other actors and writers would almost certainly have caroused.</p><p>In Stratford, Shakespeare's birthplace, you can't move for memorabilia, but in London – where he spent his working life – he is curiously neglected. The one shining exception is the reconstructed Globe, for which we have to thank the dogged determination of an American, the actor Sam Wanamaker.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/theatreblog/2011/jan/19/william-shakespeares-london-iphone-app">Continue reading...</a>William ShakespeareCultureTheatreStageBooksLondonUK newsAppsiPhoneiPadAppleMobile phonesTelecomsComputingTablet computersTechnologyLiterary tripsLondon holidaysTravelUnited Kingdom holidaysEngland holidaysWed, 19 Jan 2011 16:36:39 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/theatreblog/2011/jan/19/william-shakespeares-london-iphone-appPhotograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian'This wooden O' ... external view of of Shakespeare's Globe theatre on London's Bankside. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the GuardianPhotograph: Linda Nylind/Guardian'This wooden O' ... external view of of Shakespeare's Globe theatre on London's Bankside. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the GuardianVictor Keegan2011-01-19T16:36:39ZFrom the archive, 20 October 1970: BP finds big oilfield in the North Seahttps://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/oct/20/archive-bp-finds-big-oilfield-in-the-north-sea-1970
Originally published in the Guardian on 20 October 1970<p>British Petroleum, in which the Government has a 49 per cent stake, has discovered a big oilfield in the British sector of the North Sea, 110 miles east of Aberdeen. This is the first major discovery of oil in British waters, and although present evidence must, of necessity, be tentative, it looks as though it will be commercially exploitable.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/oct/20/archive-bp-finds-big-oilfield-in-the-north-sea-1970">Continue reading...</a>BPOil and gas companiesEnergy industryOilWed, 20 Oct 2010 11:12:28 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/oct/20/archive-bp-finds-big-oilfield-in-the-north-sea-1970Victor Keegan2010-10-20T11:12:28ZThe digital reading revolution | Victor Keeganhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/14/digital-reading-ebook-kindle-ipad
Devices such as the Kindle and iPad are changing the way we think about books – but who will control the future of reading?<p>Books have come late to the digital party, but change is now happening at such a furious pace that even conservative members of the trade are starting to realise that their industry is being snatched away from them before their eyes. The undisputed leader in the race to sell digital books is Amazon. Its <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/kindle" title="Guardian: Kindle">Kindle</a> e-reader was a late entry into the race but it used its redoubtable marketing muscle to gain a 76% share of all digital books sold. It could have been much more but for the arrival of the iPad, which now has a <a href="http://lat.ms/cwEleH" title="LA Times: Apple's iPad is good for Amazon's Kindle, which has 76% of eBooks market, says Cowen report [Updated]">5% market share</a>, though rising fast.</p><p>Traditional booksellers such as Barnes and Noble (which has just released a <a href="http://bit.ly/cYhSsy" title="Good EReader: Unboxing Video of the Barnes and Noble Nook WiFi">new Wi-Fi reader</a>) and Waterstones are still in the race, but it looks as though book distribution is being sewn up by existing digital giants. Is this what we really want – a series of walled gardens controlled by corporate giants? Why hasn't a horizontal model emerged in which networks of readers and authors can interact and buy and exchange favourite works on a global scale? Where is the Facebook of books?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/14/digital-reading-ebook-kindle-ipad">Continue reading...</a>E-readersKindleiPadBooksTechnologyTechnology sectorWorld newsThu, 14 Oct 2010 15:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/14/digital-reading-ebook-kindle-ipadPhotograph: APE-readers such as Amazon's Kindle are among developments changing the way we think about books. Photograph: APPhotograph: APE-readers such as Amazon's Kindle are among developments changing the way we think about books. Photograph: APVictor Keegan2010-10-14T15:30:00ZWe no longer go to maps, they come to us | Victor Keeganhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/11/modern-maps-google-foursquare
Google, Foursquare et al make online maps our egocentric own. It's all a long way from the cartographical gems of old<p><a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/wu01/vc/visitor_info/creating/constitution.htm" title="Pennsylvania's constitution">Pennsylvania's constitution</a> was adopted in 1776 and went on to become a kind of template for the US constitution. What is less well known is that William Penn, who founded the colony in Pennsylvania, drafted the constitution at his home at Warminghurst in West Sussex. The house appears on a 1707 map currently on show at the British Library's <a href="http://www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/magnificentmaps/index.html" title="British Library: Magnificent Maps ">Magnificent Maps exhibition</a> (which ends on 19 September). There were no photographs in those days, and there are no surviving paintings of the house, which was demolished shortly after the map was made. This cartographical gem is the only surviving image of the place where the constitution was planned and where history was shaped, a moment frozen in time.</p><p>We may never see its like again. Mapping is in the middle of its own digital revolution whose consequences, not all of them favourable, are rapidly changing our lives. Maps are no longer static but dynamic, changed in real time by millions of users and offered to us free of charge by the likes of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo or <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/" title="">openstreetmap.com</a>, the collaborative global map made for the people by the people that William Penn would surely have approved of.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/11/modern-maps-google-foursquare">Continue reading...</a>Location based servicesMapping technologiesTechnologySocial networkingSocial mediaMediaPrivacyWorld newsBritish LibraryBooksMapsGoogle MapsSat, 11 Sep 2010 14:00:13 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/sep/11/modern-maps-google-foursquareVictor Keegan2010-09-11T14:00:13ZWhere virtual worlds collide with real moneyhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/22/discover-virtual-worlds-revolution
The registered population of online communities such as Second Life and Blue Mars is greater than that of the US and Europe combined. Today's residents of the simulated universe aren't just socialising but doing big business<p>Recently <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/12/31/crystal-palace-space-station-sale/" title="">a man bought a space station for $330,000</a>, while last month Small Planet Foods, a subsidiary of General Foods, introduced a new brand of organic blueberries. What have these two products got in common? Neither actually exist. Well, not except as pixels in the virtual worlds where they are traded. Only the money is real.</p><p>The space station was sold in the virtual world <a href="http://www.entropiauniverse.com/" title="">Entropia Universe</a>, which has its own economy and currency. The buyer, who converted his $300,000 into 3.3m PED (Project Entropia dollars), is convinced that virtual shops on his virtual space station will produce virtual profits that can be converted back into real dollars. The blueberries represent a "brand extension" of a product that exists in the real world as US company General Foods aims to establish a presence in <a href="http://www.farmville.com" title="">FarmVille</a>, a game which exists as an application on Facebook and which at its peak has had nearly 80 million players. It is a classic example of a new genre.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/22/discover-virtual-worlds-revolution">Continue reading...</a>Virtual worldsSecond LifeFacebookCultureSat, 21 Aug 2010 23:03:57 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/22/discover-virtual-worlds-revolutionPhotograph: PRSecond Life is the best known virtual world in Britain.Photograph: PRSecond Life is the best known virtual world in Britain.Victor Keegan2010-08-21T23:03:57ZCost of mobile data abroad is a scandal | Victor Keeganhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/24/mobile-phone-data-abroad-scandal
Holidaymakers are being milked by extortionate charges to access the internet on their mobile phones<p>We are planning to go on holiday next month to France. Which is nice. I am also planning to take my phone now that the mobile internet is exploding. Which is also nice. The trouble is that I am actually planning to use my phone in order to access the web (email, Twitter, Flickr etc), and that's where the problems start. I have been ranting about excessive data charges abroad for years so I was interested to see how things had changed now that "unlimited" data packages are widely available in the UK.</p><p>The man in the <a href="http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/going-abroad/using-the-internet-abroad/" title="T-Mobile: Using the internet abroad">T-Mobile</a> shop said they charged £1.50 a megabyte in data charges for mobile phones accessing the internet in France. To give some idea of what that means, I recently uploaded a three-minute video to YouTube, which was over 80MB. For nothing. If I had done that on T-Mobile's tariff, it would have cost me £120. A single song these day could be 10MB, which would cost £15 to download.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/24/mobile-phone-data-abroad-scandal">Continue reading...</a>Mobile phonesTelecommunications industryTelecomsEmailTwitterTechnologyUK newsSat, 24 Apr 2010 15:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/24/mobile-phone-data-abroad-scandalPhotograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesUsing your mobile phone abroad to access internet services like Twitter is a painfully expensive experience. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesUsing your mobile phone abroad to access internet services like Twitter is a painfully expensive experience. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesVictor Keegan2010-04-24T15:00:00ZBarcodes without barriers – is this the web's next big thing? | Victor Keeganhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/15/barcodes-geotagging-victor-keegan
A British project is setting out to take geotagging to the next level<p>If you came across an old book in your bookshelf, would you like to know what your great grandfather thought about it? If the answer to this is "No" then read no further. If the answer is "Yes" then welcome to the next revolutionary thing on the web: the geography of things.</p><p>Every object in the world could, in theory, hold memories of its own history and even "talk" to other objects. How is this possible? For years geeks have been talking about the "internet of things" in which products such as a light bulb could have their own unique web address and more recently the phrase "geography of things" has been discussed but somehow never got anywhere near real life experiences.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/15/barcodes-geotagging-victor-keegan">Continue reading...</a>InternetTechnologyMobile phonesGeographyThu, 15 Apr 2010 17:08:54 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/15/barcodes-geotagging-victor-keeganVictor Keegan2010-04-15T17:08:54ZVictor Keegan: My first iPhone apphttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/apr/14/victor-keegan-iphone-app-city-poems
City Poems launched yesterday – the logical result of my years of writing about new technology<p>How easy is it to make an "app" for the iPhone? And is it worth the effort in a crowded market in which there have been well over 3bn downloads?</p><p>I know the answer to the first part of the question and will soon know the answer to the second. For years, until my recent retirement from the Guardian, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/victorkeegan" title="Victor Keegan archive">I have been writing about creative uses of new technology</a> and in most cases I have tried to test things out for myself before writing – whether a new mobile phone or a website such as <a href="http://www.lulu.com/" title="lulu.com">lulu.com</a> that enables you to self-publish your own books.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/apr/14/victor-keegan-iphone-app-city-poems">Continue reading...</a>iPhoneInternetTechnologyPoetryBooksAppsWed, 14 Apr 2010 12:41:58 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/apr/14/victor-keegan-iphone-app-city-poemsPhotograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images'A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many' … a line from The Waste Land by TS Eliot. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images'A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many' … a line from The Waste Land by TS Eliot. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty ImagesVictor Keegan2010-04-14T12:41:58ZOpen innovation is coming of age | Victor Keeganhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/14/open-innovation-victor-keegan
Companies need to open themselves up to collaboration if they want to stay competitive<p>Formula 1 has been at the awesome edge of innovation for decades, yet most of the time you would have been pushed to find the fruits of its research adopted elsewhere. Not any more. Technology developed by F1 engineers at McLaren – in order, among other things, to speed up its pit stops – is being used by air traffic control at Heathrow to predict aircraft movements two hours before they happen.</p><p>McLaren's pit stop technology has also been used at Great Ormond Street hospital in London to help streamline the handover between surgery and intensive care. These are but two examples of "open collaboration" between different industries which helped McLaren to win one of the five prizes – for open innovation – awarded in this year's Open Innovation competition <a href="http://www.nesta.org" title="organised by Nesta">organised by Nesta</a> and supported by the Guardian.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/14/open-innovation-victor-keegan">Continue reading...</a>Open sourceTechnologyInternetWed, 14 Apr 2010 08:12:34 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/14/open-innovation-victor-keeganPhotograph: Clive Mason/Getty ImagesMcLaren: technology from their pit stops is now used in air-traffic control at Heathrow. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Clive Mason/Getty ImagesMcLaren: technology from their pit stops is now used in air-traffic control at Heathrow. Photograph: Clive Mason/Getty ImagesVictor Keegan2010-04-14T08:12:34ZVictor Keegan finds the Holy Grail of broadband – in Bournemouthhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/mar/26/broadband-speed-digital-britain
The government's target of up to 2Mbps for the UK by 2012 seems out of touch when speeds of up to 100Mbps are available<p>First, a bit of history. For more than 25 years I, and others, have been urging successive governments – spectacularly unsuccessfully so far – to build a network of ultra fast fibre optic cables to the home in order to propel Britain into the vanguard of the digital revolution. The Guardian has written editorials on the subject since the early 1980s, when Mrs Thatcher ruled out British Telecom's bid to finance such plans (in exchange for being allowed to deliver video-on-demand) in favour of leaving the matter to market forces, spearheaded by the arrival of cable companies.</p><p>But nothing much happened <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2001/mar/08/onlinesupplement.media" title="except the odd experiment under special circumstances">except the odd experiment under special circumstances</a>. BT now has trials at Ebbsfleet and intends to build fibre into new housing developments. Virgin also has plans but my own efforts to experience it myself have proved elusive.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/mar/26/broadband-speed-digital-britain">Continue reading...</a>BroadbandTechnologyInternetDigital BritainBournemouthFri, 26 Mar 2010 12:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/mar/26/broadband-speed-digital-britainPhotograph: Tobias HickeyFibre is the only way to get superfast broadband for Britain. Photograph: Tobias HickeyPhotograph: Tobias HickeyFibre is the only way to get superfast broadband for Britain. Photograph: Tobias HickeyVictor Keegan2010-03-26T12:05:00ZWhere does privacy fit in the online video revolution? | Victor Keeganhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/mar/19/streaming-video-online-privacy
With more and more of us streaming live video of ourselves online, the meaning of the word 'privacy' is undergoing a change<p>I spent part of yesterday attending a business meeting in Japan. I didn't understand a word of what was said, yet a message of sorts was coming across about where the internet is going. I stumbled upon the meeting by chance as I was playing around with <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/" title="Ustream.tv">Ustream.tv</a>, a service that enables you to create or participate in live video streams anywhere in the world.</p><p>On this occasion, someone was filming the entire meeting on their iPhone and broadcasting it to as many people in the world that cared to listen (in this case 24, including me). There was an instant message text box by the side of the video and when I asked in English what they were talking about someone answered: "We're discussing how to build a company while we're university students." I then noticed there was a link to a map showing exactly where their brainstorming was taking place – at Tokyo Metropolis Shibuya Ward.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/mar/19/streaming-video-online-privacy">Continue reading...</a>Digital videoTechnologyInternetDigital mediaData protectionFri, 19 Mar 2010 13:55:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/mar/19/streaming-video-online-privacyPhotograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images EuropeDo we really need more video on the net? Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/GettyPhotograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images EuropeDo we really need more video on the net? Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/GettyVictor Keegan2010-03-19T13:55:00ZThe demise of the music industry is visible everywhere but in the factshttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/mar/12/demise-music-industry-facts
If music executives sold bottled water, they'd be calling for a ban on tapwater downloads. But their industry is proving resilient<p>Illegal downloads continue to be a cause of Armageddon within the music industry and a source of endless fascination outside. Business leaders still regularly moan that illegal downloads are destroying their livelihood, especially if representatives of government are within hearing range. At the first Music 4.5 conference in London last week, speakers took it as read that "kids are not buying music anymore" and that they must look elsewhere for revenues. Evidence of the demise of purchased music is everywhere to be seen, except for one place: the statistics.</p><p>In fact it is easier to make the case that the music industry, far from imploding, is one of the great success stories of the recession. The most dramatic example of this is in what kids are supposed not to be buying any more: single tracks. Last year sales of singles soared to an all-time record of 152.7m units, an astonishing 33% rise in a year when the whole economy (GDP) contracted by 3.3%. If the music pundits seriously think that these are not being bought by kids, then it shows how out of touch they are with their customers. These same youngsters who were – and probably still are – massively downloading free music from the internet were prepared to pay up to £3 a pop for an insipid ringtone (interestingly, not included on the industry's statistics unless they are full-track ones). Why? Because there is an easy payment system on phones which didn't exist on the web. Now there is an easy payment system (iTunes et al) on the web they are starting to pay again. If the big music companies had spent their energies dreaming up a payments mechanism for web downloads instead of suing their customers they could have swept all before them. Instead they were like the crew of a sinking boat that blames the sea instead of trying to mend the leak. If they were in the bottled water industry, they would probably be urging the government to stop free downloads of tap water at home as unfair competition. Yet the bottled water industry should have been their model. It got away with charging us lots of money for a product that was no better than free tapwater through clever marketing.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/mar/12/demise-music-industry-facts">Continue reading...</a>FilesharingIntellectual propertyTechnologyMusic industryBusinessMusicFri, 12 Mar 2010 11:11:45 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/mar/12/demise-music-industry-factsPhotograph: GettyWho says you can't sell something when there's a free version? Photograph: Bruno Vincent/Getty ImagesPhotograph: GettyWho says you can't sell something when there's a free version? Photograph: Bruno Vincent/Getty ImagesVictor Keegan2010-03-12T11:11:45ZMobiles move from cannibal to creatorhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/mar/05/smartphones-cannibal-creator
I've lost count of the number of products that mobile phones have replaced – but now they're bringing new ones into being<p>The march of the mobile goes on and on but it is now taking off in a new direction with goodness knows what consequences. Until recently, the mobile phone's distinguishing feature was its ability to gobble up competing products in a way that no other consumer product ever has. I used to keep a tally of all the products that could have been sold separately but which have been cannibalised by the mobile: cameras, calculators, books, video cameras, music players, satellite navigation and so on. When the list reached 60, I gave up, because the arrival of the iPhone and iPod Touch made the list of extra products grow exponentially.</p><p>Now the mobile is moving into new terrain. Having satiated its ravenous appetite for existing products, it is creating services that only exist because of its unique technology. For those who don't have one of the new smartphones boasting augmented reality – say 99% of all the people on the planet – it might be helpful to imagine the screen of your mobile as a radar device. When you are looking at the screen as if you are about to take a photo the "radar" (a mixture of wireless, satellite positioning and cellphone triangulation) picks up whatever data there is within whatever distance you choose. If you are looking at the screen using, say, Google's Layar, and rotating yourself 360 degrees, you might find dozens of messages left by twitterers less than a mile away, photos from websites, relevant data from the Wikipedia or whatever. One new iPhone app, Worksnug, gives you a panoramic view of all the public Wi-Fi hotspots around you: the idea is to build up a community of people working in public spaces. If you point Google's Goggles app on its new Nexus One phone at a picture of, say, the Mona Lisa on a computer it immediately recognises what it is and comes up with all sorts of relevant information. Google's SkyMap app enables you to see current patterns of stars in the sky. Owners of these smartphones in effect have a CCTV camera in their pockets, only with a far wider range than the static ones libertarians complain about. The only difference is that in this case people have (mostly) given their permission for the data they generate to be monitored, even if they are often unaware of what they have let themselves in for. We are only at the very beginning of a new era in the application of mobiles where the sky is literally the limit.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/mar/05/smartphones-cannibal-creator">Continue reading...</a>Mobile phonesAugmented realityAndroidGoogleiPhoneAppleNokiaTechnologyFri, 05 Mar 2010 11:19:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2010/mar/05/smartphones-cannibal-creatorPhotograph: PRThe new new thing: augmented reality on an Android smartphonePhotograph: PRThe new new thing: augmented reality on an Android smartphoneVictor Keegan2010-03-05T11:19:04ZIs copyright getting in the way of us preserving our history? | Victor Keeganhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/feb/25/digital-copyright-british-library
The issue of copyright is a global nightmare for anyone interested in digital preservation<p>Historians 100 years hence will have an abundance of source material about how ordinary lives were lived during the 21st century thanks to the unprecedented way we leave traces through websites, email, Twitter and social networks such as Facebook.</p><p>Well, that's the theory. In practice, most of this living history will be discarded in digital dustbins unless something is done about it. We are often told that, thanks to startling improvements in technology, all our personal memories will soon be able to be stored on something the size of a sugar cube. But the granules that make up that sugar cube are widely scattered and difficult if not impossible to recover.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/feb/25/digital-copyright-british-library">Continue reading...</a>InternetIntellectual propertyTechnologyTwitterGoogleBritish LibraryDigital mediaMediaLawSocial mediaThu, 25 Feb 2010 18:32:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/feb/25/digital-copyright-british-libraryVictor Keegan2010-02-25T18:32:00Z